RICHARD Cooper narrowly missed out on a top six finish – and serious injury – in the British Superbike Championship round at Oulton Park.
The Nottingham rider was seventh by less than a tenth of a second in race one before walking away after crashing spectacularly out of race two.
Cooper said: "A really positive weekend. It was good to get through all three qualifying sessions again and although we didn't get the result we wanted in race two we were certainly trying hard.
"Unfortunately the gear lever touched the kerb. It knocked me down a gear and going through the corner in a lower gear than usual led to a big highside.
"It's been a good job by the team and we're looking forward to Snetterton next month."
After making it through all three rounds of the knockout style qualifying to start from eighth on the grid, the 30-year-Anvil Hire TAG Racing rider fought hard during Bank Holiday Monday's opening 18-lap race, missing out on sixth to fellow Kawasaki rider Dan Linfoot.
Race two saw Cooper again start on the third row in ninth as a result of his first race lap times.
After holding position in the opening laps he again found himself involved in a battle for seventh with Linfoot, as well as BMW rider James Westmoreland and former race winners Jon Kirkham and John Hopkins.
However, he was unable to maintain his 100 per cent points scoring record after highsiding spectacularly out at Hizzy's chicane on lap 13, thankfully avoiding injury.
The race wins were shared by championship leader Shane Byrne (Kawasaki) and Josh Brookes (Yamaha). Cooper's nine points saw him leave Oulton Park 11th in the championship on 18 points.
The championship now takes a break of over a month before heading to Norfolk's Snetterton 200 circuit on the weekend of June 14 to 16.
